Ashley Coyne made a difficult decision she hoped would attract new customers. It instead created backlash.
Coyne opened Goodbeet, a vegan and gluten-free eatery in Haddon Township back in 2015 serving veggie bowls, salads, cauliflower wings, avocado toasts, smoothies and more.
But on Oct. 19, Coyne announced on social media the restaurant was breaking vegan.
“We’re keeping our menu the same,” the post read, “but adding the option to add local, organic, pasture-raised chicken or wild caught Jail Island salmon on to any bowl along with a platter option for a protein and two sides.”
Coyne said the move was necessary to boost flagging business. Not because vegan food has become less popular, but because it has become so widely available at non-vegan restaurants that her eatery no longer stood out.
She was prepared for some pushback from the vegan community when she made the announcement. She wasn’t prepared for this.
“I knew there would be backlash about the animal products,” Coyne told NJ Advance Media. “But I thought they’d be happier that we were fighting to stay alive opposed to just throwing our hands up and closing.”
The announcement post quickly received a slew of comments, from people expressing their disappointment and disproval of the plan.
“Really disappointed in this. Especially in the excitement in which you’re delivering the news,” one comment read.
“Absolutely not! Won’t be dining there anymore! Also, it’s quite weird the way you worded it,” another commenter said.
The flooding of responses pushed Coyne to write a follow-up post on Oct. 21, explaining she wasn’t turning her back on the vegan community but helping her business stay alive.
“People were saying such upsetting and hurtful things. They were saying they hate me, they hope we fail, they hope we go out of business,” Coyne said. “All of these terrible things for adults to be saying on a social media platform — while they’re fighting for animal rights.”
Coyne says rising costs of labor and products in the restaurant industry necessitated a change. The increased access to vegan and plant-based foods at chain restaurants, bars and other popular spots has hurt vegan restaurants like Goodbeet a swell.
“We’re competing with Chopt down the street now, Wonder just opened, Cava — all of these places have vegan options,” Coyne said. “They also have options for people that want meat, so people are going there if they have someone in their party that doesn’t love vegan food.”
While Coyne and Goodbeet are facing online scrutiny, it’s hardly the first vegan eatery to introduce meat to its menu.
Eleven Madison Park, the famed Michelin-starred restaurant in New York City, reintroduced meat to its menu in October after operating for four years as fully vegan. When announcing the news, owner and chef Daniel Humm said the restaurant had “unintentionally kept people out” when it shifted to vegan-only offerings.
That decision served as inspiration for Coyne and her eatery.
Goodbeet’s decision has drawn mixed reactions from other vegan restaurants across New Jersey.
“I would never do that,” Eric Nyman, owner of Wildflower Vegan Cafe in Millville told NJ Advance Media. “But it’s a free country and most restaurants serve animal products, so what are you going to do?”
Nyman, who has operated Wildflower since 2011, believes vegan food fandom has dwindled and restaurant ownership has become more expensive. But he stood firm that adding breaking vegan isn’t the only option.
“I would look really hard at their business model otherwise. Were their portion sizes reasonable? Were the prices reasonable? Are they paying too much on labor, or paying too much on ingredients, or paying too much on rent?” Nyman said. “There are so many things an eatery can do to change the course of their business other than adding dead animals to the menu.”
Nadeem Gandhi, co-owner of Cultivate Plant-based Eatery in Rahway, says he wouldn’t add not-vegan options to the menu to stay open.
“We would never think of doing that at Cultivate” Gandhi said. “Only the owner of that restaurant knows what works for them. They know their clientele and client base. It’s a really personal decision for anyone to make and a really hard one.”
Gandhi doesn’t judge Coyne for the decision, and says the vegan community shouldn’t either.
“I think if a vegan restaurant owner comes to the realization that they have to add meat to the menu, it’s not because they’re trying to betray,” Gandhi said. “But because they feel like it’s financially necessary to, for the livelihood of themselves and for the livelihood of their staff members.”
Operating a restaurant in 2025 is difficult, vegan or not. He points out the non-vegan restaurants offering plant-based items are just trying to boost business as well.
“It’s not like the restaurant down the street — a diner or an Italian restaurant that adds a whole vegan section to the menu — is doing it because they’re just like, ‘Oh, I love the planet and I love the animals,’” Gandhi said. “They’re trying to also increase their business because guess what? They’re struggling too.”
Despite the online angst, Goodbeet has indeed seen a boost in business since the menu expansion.
“I don’t think a majority of our customer base was fully vegan anyway,” Coyne said. “So a lot of our regulars have been so excited.”
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